Less than Three
by gooberliberation
Summary: Having missed out on seeing Lilly and Hanako during her visit due to a field trip, Akira has Hisao take her out on a "date."


Author's note: I do not own Katawa Shoujo or its characters. Story based on Act 1 demo and contains elements that may be contradicted by the full release.

What?? No support that emoticon that looks like a heart? Just pretend that every time you see "{3," it's actually the "greater than" symbol, then a three. It actually looks better but eh, the title and the story were set long before they were posted here.

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Less than Three

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**Satou, Akira  
Yamaku High School - Admissions Department  
Temporary Guest Pass  
Bearer is entitled usage of  
school housing and dining facilities.  
Valid for three days from issuing date.**

Akira strutted down the halls of the school on that Friday afternoon as if she owned the place. Wearing the clip-on visitor's badge as if it was a magical talisman that repelled nosy school staff, she proudly framed it with her fingers whenever anyone gave her a second look.

The school calendar she got in the mail said that the following day would have no classes due to staff meetings. Hoping to spend the weekend with her sister and perhaps Hanako, Akira took the following four days off from work. Reaching Lilly's tea room, or at least where she remembered it being, she opened her door and made her grand entrance.

"Guess whooooo!"

"Hi, Akira. Would you like some tea?"

"Hisao? Where's Lilly?"

"She's on a field trip with her class. There was a fundraiser and Lilly's homeroom raised the most money so they won an overnight trip to some amusement park."

"Aw, man. That was this weekend? When do they get back?"

"Some time tomorrow afternoon. I can give her a call and let her know you came by."

"Ah, no need. I'll just see her then. How about we go get Hanako and..."

"She helped Lilly's class so she went on the trip too."

"Oh. What are you doing here then?"

"Just some reading."

Akira took a look at Hisao's books and determined that they were neither textbooks nor anything of scholastic value. The poor kid was in there reading for _fun._

"Reading? On a weekend? It's a beautiful day out there. Shouldn't you be out with your girlfriend or something?"

"Um, I don't have one."

Akira ran over to Hisao and snapped him up by the arm. "Looks like you leave me no choice."

"For what?"

"For my amusement, Hisao. You're taking me on a date!"

"A-a date? But I don't have much..."

"Don't worry about it. I'll treat you."

Akira pulled Hisao out of the abandoned classroom and grabbed him by the hand.

"Ya know, this might help your reputation," she stated, noticing Hisao's discomfort from the attention he was getting from the fellow students as they saw him holding hands with Akira. "These high school girls might start thinking you're somthin' special when they see you with an older woman. Now let's go to your room so you can get changed."

"Changed? What's wrong with what I'm wearing now?"

"You look like a high school student. I don't want people to think I'm robbing the cradle. Do you have any like ...dressy casual clothes? You know, something nice for our date?"

"I guess."

"Doesn't need to be that fancy. A button up shirt and jeans would do. You don't need to look like you're going to a funeral."

"But you're wearing a suit."

"Well I'm at that age where one normally comes to appreciate a fine tailored suit."

"What age would that be?"

"Quiet, you."

...

Akira and Hisao emerged from the screening room as the only chatterboxes among a largely silent group of patrons. On weekends and evenings, the local movie house caters to Yamaku students by showing movies with subtitles and supplying headphones upon request. Akira and Hisao found themselves in a mostly empty auditorium with a handful of deaf teens. Instead of paying attention to the movie, they spent most of the time chatting, mostly about Hisao's personal history.

"I know what you can do!" Akira's face lit up with inspiration.

"You can tell girls that you got that scar from fighting the Yakuza. That's a lot cooler than saying it's from surgery."

"Hah, yeah. Anything beats saying I almost got killed by a love confession, huh?"

"Wow, that movie must have been longer than I thought," Akira noted, looking at the darkness outside. "What should we do now?"

"Um, we can go to that cafe where we first met."

"Shanghai? Nah, I go there practically every time I'm here. Aside from movies, what do kids do here for fun? Is there a decent karaoke joint around here?"

"Not really, just some dingy place for the locals that only has old songs. We do have a bowling alley, though."

"Bowling? Eh..." Akira presented her trimmed but definitely not manicured fingernails for a little white lie. "I just had my nails done"

"Oh. You wanna call it a night?"

"No way, It's only eight thirty. Oh! Hey, would you be up for taking a little trip out of town? I can show you the places I usually hang out at on weekends."

"I don't know. We do have a curfew here."

"Curfew, smurfew. Do you have a driver's license?"

"No, I was going to learn how to drive after I graduate."

"Oh. Well I guess I better stay sober tonight. What to do, what to do... Hey! Let's go to a nudie bar."

"I don't know if I'm old enough..."

"Don't worry! Just stay close to me and let me do all the talking. I'll buy you a lap dance!"

...

"Hm, that's odd." Akira said to herself as she browsed through Hisao's cell phone, while he was in the diner's rest room. Not only did Hisao have a depressingly small collection of phone numbers from girls, but it also seemed that he didn't even have Lilly's phone number.

She figured that perhaps Hisao wasn't aware that Lilly even had a phone. But he did offer to call Lilly, so maybe he knew she had a phone and was going to ask Akira for Lilly's number. After adding her own digits, Akira noticed a contact listed as "{3" instead of a name.

"What the heck does that mean?" Akira squinted, trying to figure it out. "Ooohh! It's a heart!" She wasn't familiar with the sort of emoticons that kids were using, and got excited on the prospect of finding something juicy on Hisao's phone.

"What are you doing?" Hisao emerged, just as Akira was about to check the contact's entry for a phone number or better yet, an associated picture.

"Oh! I was just adding myself into your phone. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Hisao laughed. "But I still have the scent of strawberry body spray and sweat stuck in my nose."

"Well it better have been worth it! Outta all the girls you had to pick the one foreigner. Natural blondes around here don't dance for cheap, ya know?"

"I-I'm sorry about that."

"Haha, I'm just messin with ya. I'm just glad you didn't order off the secret menu." Akira gave Hisao a playful punch to the shoulder. "She was pretty, though. Say, do you have a thing for blondes?"

Hisao gulped in response.

"Don't act so surprised that I noticed. The only other girls you were even lookin' at were the ones with bleached hair. Aaaaw, you must have been doing that to impress me, huh? I'm touched."

"Hah, um. Sure."

"Say, don't tell me that was the first time you've ever seen grown women naked, was it? It was? Have you ever even kissed a girl?"

"Um. No. I came close a couple times but..."

"Not even the less than three girl?"

"Who?"

"That girl you have listed in your phone as a heart instead of a name."

"Did you..." Hisao started to break into a sweat, as if things weren't awkward enough already.

"Relax, I didn't snoop around THAT much. What'll ya do if she wants to kiss ya?"

"I don't think that'd happen."

"Hm. Here." Akira closed her eyes and puckered up. "Kiss me."

"Really? I don't know if I should."

"Yeah, really. Girls hate it if their first kiss with a guy is all clumsy and lame. I know you'd rather I be someone else right now, but just pretend I'm that girl you like."

"Well, okay." Hisao closed his eyes and moved his face closer towards Akira's, before she stopped him with her palm.

"No, like this." Akira adjusted the position and angle of Hisao's head. "And keep your eyes open this time. I don't want you to break my nose. Okay, now go!"

"See? That wasn't so bad now, was it?" Akira grinned, amused at the how red Hisao's face had turned. "A little more practice and you'll be a pro."

"Here's your order, Ma'am. " A fry cook placed two plates on the counter in front of Hisao and Akira.

"Cheeseburgers?" Hisao inspected the greasy mass on his plate. Apparently Akira ordered identical meals for them while he was in the restroom.

"With fried egg and bacon! The grease will coat your stomach and the carbs will absorb the booze."

"Are we going drinking? But I'm only 17."

"What are you talking about? You've been 20 all day. Anyways, tell me about this girl of yours. What's she like?"

"Well, she's pretty. And smart. And classy. Totally out of my league. I probably don't have a chance in hell, really. She's probably had a ton of boyfriends. I wouldn't know how to keep her even if we were going out."

"Aw, don't say that. So far, you're doing pretty good!"

...

"Still with me, Hisao?"

Hisao unsteadily nodded. On the table in front of him was a small collection of drinking receptacles he amassed from being forced to sample various alcoholic beverages.

"So which one did ya like most?" Akira fanned her palms above the table between them.

Hisao really liked the fruity, milkshake-like drink that was in the large glass, but Kenji would never let him live down enjoying un-manly beverages. No doubt, Akira was going to order a duplicate of what he picks. He browsed over the shot glasses and saucers and settled on a glass that was smaller than the girly drink. It had just enough flavor to be tolerable but tasted bad enough to still be considered manly.

"Ah, okay." Akira turned towards the bar. "Yo barkeep! Another Long Island for the lad!"

"Sure thing, Akira." The bartender replied. Apparently Akira was on a first-name basis with him.

A familiar figure at the bar caught Hisao's attention and sobered him up with fright.

"Oh shit!" Hisao whispered as he attempted to crouch beneath the table. "That's my homeroom teacher over there. The one in the tweed."

"Oh yeah? What's his name?"

"Muto. If he see's me I'm..."

"Hey Mister Muto!" Akira called out, waving. Muto slowly turned around, glanced over Hisao and Akira with a glazed over, disheveled expression, and grimly returned his attention to the sake set he had in front of him.

"Relax, Hisao." Akira said, poking at Hisao's cheek. "If he's all the way out here at a place like this, he doesn't want to be recognized any more than you do!"

...

"Okay, jump down. I'll catch you!" Hisao looked up at Akira as she straddled the school's outer fence at the edge of the guest parking lot.

It was nearly three in the morning, and although Hisao knew of at least one entrance to the dorms that's always open, the front gate was locked for the evening. Somehow Akira talked Hisao into letting her spend the night in his room, instead of staying at an inn or renting a room from one of the town's enterprising locals.

Akira jumped down and landed on her feet, sparing Hisao from a potentially lethal bout of chivalry. Hand-in-hand, they scurried towards the dorms in the shadows of the brick outer wall, staying off the paved paths. After an awkward exchange with the RA who was at the dorm building's back entrance smoking and throwing dice with his friends, Hisao successfully smuggled his "cousin" into the dorms.

"You're sure you're comfortable on the floor?" Akira asked, looking down at Hisao from his bed.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's the least I could do. The beds here aren't much better anyway. I think they're designed for kids with back problems. Or for use as cargo pallettes. I'm not sure which."

"Oh ho ho ho. You're quite a gentleman, Hisao." Akira rolled over onto her back. "You're going to make some girl happy someday."

"Thanks, Akira. Good night."

"Hey Hisao?" Akira asked under her breath after rustling around a while. "You wanna do it?"

"Um..." With his breath sucked out of his chest, Hisao struggled to find an answer. "Do what, exactly."

"What do you think? Let's have sex."

"We shouldn't..."

"It's not like you're actually with anyone right now. We're friends, right? What else do you need?"

"Shouldn't someone's first time be with someone they love?"

"You're still hung up on that girl huh? Come up here. I want to tell you something. I won't bite, unless you're into that sorta thing."

Hisao reluctantly got up from the floor and sat on his bed, next to Akira. With the most serious expression she's used that whole evening, she put her arm around him.

"Let me share something with you that I've learned on my own. You might be in love now, but in the real world, high school romances aren't what they're cracked up to be. They're full of stupid drama because in high school, boys are dumb and girls are crazy as hell. I don't mean to ruin your hopes, but chances are, you're gonna be over and done with that girl you like within a few months. Teen love is fleeting, Hisao, but friendships can last a lifetime."

"First times usually aren't all that great either." She continued. "At your age, nobody knows what they're doing and they usually do horribly their first time. Hardly anyone ever actually has _fun_ losing their virginity to another virgin. It's often painful, traumatic even. I'd like to show you how to do things right, and maybe you'll have a good time while you're at it."

"You've been working on this speech for a while, haven't you?"

"Yep." Akira kissed his forehead. "I've been rehearsing it in my head all night!"

"Why are you doing this, Akira? The date, the uh, "lessons," all of it."

"Ya know why I really came here to visit Lilly and Hanako? Because this school depresses me and I worry about them. Boarding schools should be about partying and learning about yourself and the opposite sex, not locking yourself away indoors sipping tea and sulking over old books. I know the kids here have it tough, but you really need to go out and live a little. And you're a good kid. I like you."

Hisao sat there, impressed at the soundness of Akira's perverse logic. Among Yamaku students, he had it luckier than most. Unlike Hanako and Lilly, Hisao didn't have any disfiguring injury or handicap that prevented him from interacting with the world. Sure, he could die at any moment, but that was all the more reason for him to suck it up and go outside.

"So tell me, Hisao." Akira asked while removing her borrowed pajamas. "Would you rather your first be a friend who knows what she's doing, or some inexperienced little girl who'll drive you nuts with her teenage issues within a couple months?"

...

"Hi-hi-hisaaaaooooo..." Akira roused Hisao out of his sleep by pinching his cheeks and shaking his face. "It's almost noon."

"Mrrrmph"

"Oh goodness, I must've done a real number on ya." Akira moved the mattress onto the floor so they could sleep next to each other. "Good morning, lover-boy."

Hisao got up and cradled his throbbing head. Akira's preemptive hamburger hangover cure worked well enough, but wasn't perfect. Adding aspirin to the mix, Hisao downed his morning drug cocktail and prepared for a shower.

"That was... amazing, Akira. Thanks."

"It was a pleasure. I had fun too with that cute little thing of yours."

"Cute? Little?" Hisao frowned at the unflattering description of his equipment.

"What should I say?" Akira giggled. "Something like "OH MY GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAD THAT MONSTER IN ME?""

"Ugh, cute is fine."

"I'm just kiddin' with ya. Nothing wrong with being average. You going to take a bath? Let me know if the bathrooms are empty so I can go after you."

"Of course."

While Hisao was in the showers, Akira crawled back under the covers to catch some extra sleep. Just as she managed to slip out of consciousness, a phone rang. Drowsily, Akira reached up to the night stand and grabbed the phone.

"Hmph... Hello?"

"Akira?" Lilly was on the other end.

"Yeah, whats up?"

"Oh, I'm sorry! I must have dialed the wrong number. Let me make this other call and I'll call you back as soon as I'm done."

"Sure, sure."

After hanging up, Akira yawned her sleepiness away and found that she had answered Hisao's phone. Recalling that Lilly's number wasn't saved, she went back into the history logs to save the number from the most recently received call.

** {3  
12:07PM 00:00:47**

Shocked, she went through the address book and singled out the "{3" entry for further inspection. As soon as she confirmed that it was indeed Lilly's number, another call came in from Hisao's former mystery crush.

"Hi, Lilly."

"Akira? Hold on." Akira could hear commotion from Lilly's end, along with Hanako's voice.

"Are you sure it's Hisao's number? I got Akira again."

"Y-Yeah. I dialed it myself."

"Hello? Akira?"

"Yep! This is Hisao's phone."

"I see, so you're at the school. May I speak with Hisao?"

"Sorry, he's in the shower right now. He should be out in a few-"

"Akira, you're not... in his room, are you?"

"I am. I came to visit yesterday but I forgot about your field trip so I had Hisao keep me company until you guys came back."

"Oh. I'm sorry to have not been there." Lilly's tone became increasingly interrogative. "What did you and Hisao do last night?"

"We watched a movie, then we went around my old hangouts."

"You got him drunk and took him to a gentlemen's club, didn't you?"

"Actually, the strip club first."

"And..." Lilly took a deep breath and exhaled audibly. "Am I correct in assuming that you spent the night with Hisao?"

"He was nice enough to put me up for the night. Don't worry, Lills. I didn't steal him away. The kid is crazy about ya."

"Really?" Lilly's tone lightened up considerably.

"Yeah, he kept talking about some girl he liked but I didn't know who it was until just now. He was even drooling over the strippers that looked like you."

Lilly grumbled. The bit about Hisao and strippers didn't calm her down like Akira hoped it would.

"Well, since I have you on the line, I'd like to ask a favor from you. Hanako and I are about an hour away from school right now. I was planning on spending time with Hisao when I get back. I was wondering if you could keep Hanako company while we're out."

"Is Hanako okay with this?"

"It was her idea."

"Oh. Gotcha. Yeah sure, we'll go shopping or go to the arcade or something."

"Thank you, Akira. I'll call again later to speak with Hisao himself. And thank you for watching out for him."

"No problem, sis. Bye."

Akira let out a sigh of relief, glad that Lilly didn't directly ask her if she fooled around with Hisao. Even if she had the guts to lie directly to her sister, Akira wasn't sure if she could pull it off convincingly. She started to feel rotten for putting Hisao in the situation he was in. The poor kid must have been feeling all kinds of conflicted inside. In hindsight, it was glaringly obvious that he had his eye on Lilly. He wouldn't have been that awkward or secretive about his love life if it was anyone else. So much for being a responsible adult.

"All clear. The dorms are pretty much deserted so you can take your shower now." Hisao announced as he came in.

"Get dressed." Akira sternly instructed as she sat on the bed with her arms folded. "You've got a date with Lilly in about an hour."

"I do?"

"Yep. She called your phone a couple times."

"Oh." His gaze ashamedly drifted towards the floor. "So you know that..."

"...That you've got a thing for my sister? Yeah. By the way. I take back everything I said about high school girls being stupid or crazy. At least in her case."

"Does she know about what we did?"

"She knows that we hung out, of the places we went, and that we slept in the same room." Akira dropped the laid-back big sister act and adopted the composure of a stern authoritarian. "However, if you would like to elaborate on that and face the consequences, it's entirely up to you. I'd rather you not, though."

"I-I'm sorry Akira. I didn't know how to tell you that I..."

"Hey, no point in feeling bad about things now. It's not like you're actually dating my sister. We had fun and that's what matters. And it really was all my idea."

Akira grabbed Hisao by the shoulders and looked him in the face

"I have one thing to ask you, though. So answer me honestly."

"Yes?"

"Have you fallen in love with me?"

Not knowing what kind of answer she was expecting, Hisao looked around the room, dodging Akira's inquisitive stare. "N-No. I had a lot of fun with you and I'm really glad that you're my first but, I really do like Lilly."

"Good." Akira's usual cheerfulness returned. "That's a relief. It wouldn't have worked out between us anyway. If you were to date Lilly, things would get ...ugly if you had feelings for me too."

Hisao stood there, dumbfounded that Akira could talk about such tender topics so openly.

"And if you liked me more than just as a friend, it would pose serious problems with what I'm about to ask of you."

"Whats that?"

"You might be "good enough" to satisfy most high school girls, but if you're going to date Lilly and take her innocence, "good enough" just won't do."

"What should I do then?"

"Me, basically. You need practice. And lots of it. I will not let you lay a finger on my baby sister unless you're nothing short of perfect in bed, got it? We'll have to coordinate our schedules so that we can sneak in as much studying as possible. Think you can handle that?"

"Yes, Ma'am."


End file.
